Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

18 June 2019

WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE CHURCH?

In defending myself at the Waverly Magistrates’ Court in Australia, I asked Magistrate Sweeney as to who the judge was at the place the alleged offence was reported to have happened? Magistrate Sweeney said that it was the Police Officer in charge. Unless families or institutions seek the help of the Police / Government forces the Government does not have jurisdiction to get involved. Equal Opportunity laws help manifest problems at early stages than under the hierarchical system where the word of the leader is final. Most folks in economically affluent nations / areas would not have the forbearance to not react. Equal Opportunity laws help manifest our opposition at early stages. They need to be integrated into the laws of Multicultural Democracies.

In his article headed ‘THE CARDINAL’S PRAYER AND THE POLITICIANS RESPONSE’ Mr Jehan Perera states :

[Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith expressed the sentiments that are with most Sri Lankans today irrespective of their ethnicity or religion.  At the reopening of St Anthony’s Church, Kochchikade, which was one of the two Catholic churches that were heavily damaged in the suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday, he said that many people in the country are living in confusion in the aftermath of the attacks and are wondering whether the country can overcome the situation.  He said "What we need is a leadership that will work for the country rather than themselves. A leader with a backbone who will not protect the guilty. A leader who is not afraid to punish wrongdoers." He added that the country needed leaders who would safeguard the rights of the people and would provide for economic upliftment. “These are the kind of leaders that the country needs today.  We pray that there will be such leaders.”]

If Political leaders are responsible for what happened what was the Church leaders’ responsibility to their devotees? Why did the Cardinal lack the intuitive intelligence to pick up early warning signs by being part of the community? Was the Christian community isolating itself from other cultures which were outliers to the Christian community of Sri Lanka? Jesus did not find fault with those who inflicted pain on Him. Jesus knew intuitively that He would be punished. Jesus knew because Jesus included in Himself the side that was looking to punish Jesus. That is the ownership needed to pick up the early warning signs of the opposition. Jesus was not economically affluent and hence is the example for  majority Sri Lankans - to know and make the decision ‘to oppose or to accept and include’. Like Jesus who made His own declaration about the Kingdom of God - Tamils declared through the Vaddukoddai Resolution 1976.

Let us look at how balanced Jehan’s following  assessment is:

[As the most prominent Catholic leader in the country today, the Cardinal’s words will carry weight on their own.  Sri Lanka is a country where people give deference to religious clergy who are trusted by the communities as having the people’s interests in mind rather than how to obtain their votes.  The Cardinal’s words have even greater weight at the present time as he speaks as the voice of those 259 persons who are no longer on this earth, having lost their lives in the bombings that took place in two Catholic churches and four other locations, including one evangelical Christian church.  Cardinal Ranjith said the Islamist extremists who staged the suicide attacks against three churches and three luxury hotels were misguided youth who will have no place in heaven. "The innocent victims who died while in church are now angels in heaven.”]

Did the Cardinal express similar sentiments when Tamil Christian civilians were killed  at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in the Vaddukoddai suburb of Navaly? Many link the causal forces to the Vaddukoddai Resolution and hence the victims took refuge in the Church. Did Mr Malcolm Ranjith comfort the relatives of those Tamil victims? Or did Mr Malcolm Ranjith conclude that the Government was ‘right’ not only when this Vaddukoddai Christian institution was bombed in 1995 - killing 125 civilians? Or are they not children of Jesus?

Jehan quotes as follows:

[Cardinal Ranjith said the Islamist extremists who staged the suicide attacks against three churches and three luxury hotels were misguided youth who will have no place in heaven.  "The innocent victims who died while in church are now angels in heaven.]

If the above mentioned Inslamist youth have no place in heaven - what about the Sri Lankan armed forces that bombed Navaly church? Would they also rot in hell as per Cardinal’s judgment? Is that why they lacked the intuitive power to pick up the early warning signs and protect Sri Lankans irrespective of the religion? By bombing Navaly church - did the armed forces cut the umbilical cord that would bring them the ‘intelligence’ of fellow Sri Lankans irrespective of religion? What did the Cardinal do to protect the church from such negative karma?

True Opposition would help protect the whole by raising awareness of who we - the opposers are. That would facilitate the true citizen to channel her/his frustration through the regulated path of the law. When isolated - cleverness grows and is manifested in the form of autocratic invasion. The LTTE as well as the Easter bombers were exceptionally clever because they developed themselves in isolation.

Australian Muslim Haisem Zahab who tested Rockets on his Australian farm for ISIS is such an example. He confirmed the return karma of  racial discrimination which leads to early isolation and therefore development of cleverness without feeling social obligations to those beyond one’s culture. The fact that Haisem Zahab was sentenced to only a fraction of the possible 25 year punishment - confirms that the Australian Judiciary has repented and become more inclusive. I feel that my contribution including in relation to this particular case also went towards this. That is how powerful Truth is. It is an independent force that travels independently from mind to mind. Today I join intelligence with a Judge hearing an unfair dismissal case against the University of Jaffna, here in Jaffna Court House. This I believe would naturally protect Jaffna from hurting itself.